1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic disk changer which picks up a desired one among a plurality of optical disks or magnet-optical disks such as compact disks (CDs) and mini-disks (MDs) which are arranged at predetermined intervals (hereinafter referred to merely as "disks", when applicable) so that data are recorded thereon or reproduced therefrom or erased therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of an automatic disk changer of this type has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 61-156563. The automatic disk changer comprises a casing in which a disk arranging stand is provided on which a number of disks are arranged at predetermined intervals, and a carriage which is reciprocated along the disk arranging stand. The carriage has: a disk lifting mechanism which is adapted to slightly lift a specified disk among the disks arranged on the disk arranging stand; a loading mechanism which rolls the disk thus lifted to place it on the carriage; a disk mounting mechanism which mounts the disk thus placed on a player body provided on the carriage; and an auxiliary tray mechanism section located adjacent to the disk arranging stand, including an auxiliary tray for inserting only one disk, and a drive mechanism for driving the auxiliary tray back and forth.
In a data reproducing operation with the automatic disk changer, a desired one among a plurality of disks arranged on the disk arranging stand is specified, and the carriage is moved to the disk thus specified. Thereafter, the loading mechanism is operated to clamp the disk and place it on the carriage. Then, the disk mounting mechanism is operated to mount the disk thus placed on the player body provided on the carriage. Under this condition, data are read from the disk with the optical pickup of the player body, thus being reproduced. After the reproduction of data, the disk is returned to its original position on the disk arranging stand with the above-described operations performed in the reverse order.
In the case where it is required to play a disk (to reproduce data from a disk) immediately which has been purchased, the drive mechanism in the auxiliary tray mechanism section is driven to draw the auxiliary tray out of the casing, and the disk is set in the auxiliary tray thus drawn out, and the auxiliary tray together with the disk is retracted into the casing, so that the data are reproduced from the disk in the above-described manner.
In the above-described automatic disk changer, the auxiliary tray mechanism section for playing a particular disk besides a number of disks is intricate in structure, and accordingly high in manufacturing cost.